No Surprise: Zookz Shuts Down Indefinitely, Refunds Money

from the so-much-for-that-plan dept

Tue, Jul 21st 2009 1:44am — Mike Masnick

Well, this wasn't difficult to predict at all. As noted last week, a company named Zookz clearly stretched and misinterpreted the WTO rulings in the dispute between Antigua and the US. Given the sheer number of emails their high-end PR people have been dumping my way, the fact that they were making a mockery of the ruling was part of the plan to get them press attention. Of course, they might not have expected the Antiguan gov't to quickly step up and point out that it didn't support Zookz either. So the latest is that Zookz has shut down the site and promised to return money to anyone who subscribed. They claim that they'll be back, but I wouldn't count on it. At least not in any form similar to what they originally advertised.

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Filed Under: antigua, copyright, music, trade dispute, wto
Companies: zookz

20 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2009 @ 4:48am

Oh well, how sad.
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Nick Stevens (profile), 21 Jul 2009 @ 7:00am

what a shame
I must say I totally informed as many people as possible to jump in and get what they could.... but oh well :P
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2009 @ 7:15am

Got My Refund
I got my refund. They had really good customer service from the beginning.
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Enrico Suarve, 21 Jul 2009 @ 7:36am

Zoiks
foiled again ;0(
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T. Grazin, 21 Jul 2009 @ 7:43am

Don't Agree
I have been following the news on Zookz ever since it started and I have to disagree with you. I don't think they were making a mockery of the WTO ruling, I think they felt they were legal. It was everyone else that was. Anyways I miss the service; I did get my moneys worth by far. I hope it comes back someday.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 21 Jul 2009 @ 7:48am

Riiiiiiight
"Of course, they might not have expected the Antiguan gov't to quickly step up and point out that it didn't support Zookz either."

I imagine the conversation in the Antiguan government went something like this:

"Uh, Sir, that was the US Ambassador. Apparently they're upset about something called Zookz infringing on their intellectual property."

"Oh, screw them. They broke the trade agreement first, so they can lick our Antiguan man-balls."

"Uh, Sir, our equipment is showing that 12 nuclear warheads have been repositioned to point towards us, 3 destroyers are steaming here and several squadrons of F16 Tomcats have taken off from Andrews AFB."

"Call the ambassador! I am love of America! I am love of America!"
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Pablo, 21 Jul 2009 @ 7:55am

Interesting
Something is very suspicious. I miss the service though. I wish I had more of an advanced warning because I was downloading like crazy. I know it is a long shot, but I hope it comes back. I also don't agree with the WTO press. They didn't need that attention. Would you, if you were offering this amount of music for 10 bucks a month? Nope.
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David (profile), 21 Jul 2009 @ 9:21am

Out of the back of a van
"Yeah, I gotcha VCR right here, 10 bucks. No need ta tell the cops."

Sorry, but just because they claimed it was all on the up-and-up, doesn't mean it was. Anyone downloading from them was likely stealing, and refund or not, should delete anything they got. Seriously, people thought it was legit?
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a.c. marek (profile), 21 Jul 2009 @ 9:36am

Re: Out of the back of a van
I agree. The collective attitude of the indignant commenters on the last Zookz post was based on the false premise that surely if I pay something for these downloads, the RIAA can't touch me. Foolishness.
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ANGRY American, 21 Jul 2009 @ 10:59am

Re: Out of the back of a van
Who are you to decide what is and is not legitimate? If I'd managed to jump on the bandwagon, I'll tell you right now there's no way in hell I'd have deleted anything. I'd have burned it to CD and passed them out to my friends with an encouragement to them to do the same. Fuck you and your self-righteousness. Fuck the US Government that thinks it can flaunt its own breaking of trade agreements with other countries.
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Mike4, 21 Jul 2009 @ 11:27am

Re: Out of the back of a van
Do you really believe that if you delete any files downloaded, you'll be cleared of any wrongdoing? If they got you, they got you. It doesn't really matter what you do with the files after that.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2009 @ 1:19pm

Re: Out of the back of a van
Sorry, but just because they claimed it was all on the up-and-up, doesn't mean it was.

Sorry, but just because you claim it wasn't all on the up-and-up, doesn't mean it wasn't.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2009 @ 5:48pm

Re: Out of the back of a van
Sorry, but just because they claimed it was all on the up-and-up, doesn't mean it was. Anyone downloading from them was likely stealing,

And this is why you should always get a lawyer to check things out for you before you purchase anything that could be covered by copyright or patent laws. Demand to see copies of all the contracts between all the involved parties and have your lawyer make sure they are all valid down to the last detail because if not then YOU ARE STEALING! There's just no excuse for a lack of due diligence!
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Transviloquist, 21 Jul 2009 @ 11:28pm

Not to sure but was there not some kind of deal involving them shutting down their Online Poker business ? Just shows once again that if you make a deal with the devil you WILL get burned.
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Transviloquist, 21 Jul 2009 @ 11:32pm

Not to sure but was there not some kind of deal involving them shutting down their Online Poker business ? Just shows once again that if you make a deal with the devil you WILL get burned.
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Marlie Hall, 23 Jul 2009 @ 1:59pm

The ZookZ.com website is back up.
The ZookZ.com website is back up. Our music and movie service is still unavailable but we are working to restore it. We encourage you to check www.zookz.com or visit us on twitter @zookz or Facebook for continued updates.

We appreciate all of your help improving our services. ZookZ has processed all customer refunds as of 07/21/09 so if you don't see the credit by 7/24/09 please contact us. If you have any questions about any files you downloaded from ZookZ please send us a detailed email to help@zookz.com.

Marlie Hall
Director of Corporate Communications
ZookZ
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Marlie Hall, 24 Jul 2009 @ 11:01am

ZookZ.com is coming back soon!
The Reports of My Death are Greatly Exaggerated – Mark Twain / ZookZ

ZookZ.com is coming back soon! Our New Releases page is active and we’ve added 391 movies and 16,785 songs in the past week. You can also once again search the ZookZ database and begin keeping track of content that will be available for download, once we return to 100% functionality.

We are working tirelessly to bring ZookZ.com back to full service. We thank everyone for your continued patience and support, so please continue to spread the word! Stay tuned for more great things to come.

Marlie Hall
Director of Corporate Communications
ZookZ
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OneHitWonder, 25 Jul 2009 @ 2:13pm

Now that I've been informed through the media that Zookz might not be legal in my country, I don't think that it's a good idea to start up my account again, even if Zookz is back up and running.

I'm no lawyer, but I think this provides a legal hook for the RIAA and their ilk to declare open season on Zookz customers in the United States. They probably can't do much about the people who signed up the first time, but if we go back and start up our accounts again, now we're on notice that we might be downloading content that violates copyright laws.

Unlike good old-fashioned torrent downloading, the goons with the subpoenas know exactly who we are, because we've provided credit card numbers and other personally identifying information.

Maybe I've just been smoking too much crack, but it sure looks like a legal honeypot to me. I think the folks behind Zookz are sincere, but I don't trust my own government and the RIAA goons not to use this opportunity as a Venus flytrap to chomp on my head right after the first Miley Cyrus tune I download.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2009 @ 5:25pm

Re:
Maybe I've just been smoking too much crack...

Way too much.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Jul 2009 @ 2:25am

Re:
I'm no lawyer, but I think this provides a legal hook for the RIAA and their ilk to declare open season on Zookz customers in the United States...
...the goons with the subpoenas know exactly who we are, because we've provided credit card numbers and other personally identifying information.

You're obviously right about not being a lawyer. The RIAA is the Recording Industry Association of AMERICA. Zookz is in ANTIGUA. US subpoenas don't mean much there.

...now we're on notice that we might be downloading content that violates copyright laws.

OK, I'm putting the whole world on notice that any and everything MIGHT violate my copyrights. Whatcha gonna do now that you're on that notice?
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